Recovery
by borderlinecritical
Summary: Struggling to forget her past, Rouge has succumbed to a life of drugs and now, due to Amy's persistence, Rouge is placed in group therapy to help her cope with her problems. However, due to a relapse, Rouge plans to leave the group but when a newcomer joins the group and exhibits the same struggles as her, will they finally be able to open up and seek closure? Shadouge. CHAP 2 UP!
1. Chapter 1: Alone

**Chapter 1**

"Rouge, how are _you_ doing today?"

Rouge wearily looked towards the therapist as she slowly came back to reality from her daydream. Feeling embarrassed that he had targeted her to be the first to speak, Rouge cautiously cleared her throat as she pressed her hands together, preparing to speak.

"I-I'm good. Nothing new…" Rouge responded, her cheeks burning hot as she turned to the ground, avoiding the stares of the others.

"Would you like to tell us how your week has been since our last group meeting?"

Rouge glanced up towards the therapist once again, slowly shaking her head. She could see the disappointment in his eyes. But she could also see the understanding, almost as if he wanted to push her to speak more, but knew he shouldn't.

"Alright, Rouge." The therapist sighed, and looked around the room, trying to determine who hadn't spoken in the group session today.

"We're all here for you, you know…" A petite echidna whispered to Rouge, slightly smiling towards her. Gently, the echidna placed both of her hands over Rouge's and gave them a small squeeze. "There's something that's hurting us all… we're all the same and that's why we're all here to help each other."

Rouge looked at Tikal and smiled back, genuinely appreciating the echidna's concern. Gently removing her hands from Tikal's, Rouge sighed and looked down at them, picking at her nails as she thought of what to say to the kind echidna.

"Thank you, Tikal… That's really sweet of you to say…"

Tikal nodded towards her and turned away, facing the therapist once more.

"Believe me, we all understand but it doesn't hurt to be reminded that we're here to help."

Rouge nodded, still gazing at her hands as the young echidna's words replayed in her head.

* * *

"This was a good session today! I'm extremely pleased with everyone's progress and remember, "what we can't do alone, we can do together." Our next meeting is on Thursday, at five o'clock! Stay safe and can't wait to see you all again."

Chairs moved against the wooden floor as people rose to leave the building. Small chatter began again between people as they said goodbye towards their friends within the group. Rouge, usually keeping to herself, walked towards the exit with her head down, avoiding eye contact with others. She could feel Tikal's eyes watching her walk away, upset that Rouge didn't even acknowledge her as she left.

What did that echidna want from her? It had only been a month since the bat had joined the group therapy and she didn't even _willingly_ join it. If it weren't for Amy getting in her business and pestering Tails to put her in the group… She sighed. No reason to blame her friend for caring for her so much.

As Rouge was lost in thought, Tails gently placed his hand on her back, startling the white bat.

"Rouge, can I have a word with you?"

Rouge slowly turned around to face the golden fox, crossing her arms in the process. Looking towards the ground, she nodded her head.

"Rouge, it's been a month… Are you getting more comfortable? Do you like the group?"

Rouge looked up and stared Tails right in the eyes. She could sense his concern for her and she greatly appreciated that he tried so hard to get her to open up. But how could she? She was all alone for most of her life and him and Amy pushed her to be in this group. She couldn't just spill everything that had hurt her to strangers. What did they expect from her?

"I only have two weeks left until you'll let me drop out from the group, right? That was the deal…"

Stunned, Tails nodded his head slowly and sighed. Of course she wanted nothing other than to get out of therapy but he didn't want her to give up. It was hard to get her to agree to even give this a chance; Amy had to pester Rouge to even consider talking to Tails and it took him months before he was able to get the annoyed bat to even agree to coming to group therapy. In the end, he somehow had managed to convince her to be in the group for six weeks and if she liked it, she could stay. But if she didn't like it, she could leave and neither him or Amy would bother her about it again. Deep down, he knew that Rouge knew she needed to get help but she was too stubborn and kept to herself. He had tried hard to get her to like the group but his efforts were rewardless; each time the group met, Rouge would do anything possible to avoid speaking. First, it started with her needing to get a glass of water. Then, she had to use the bathroom every time she was called on. No matter how many times Tails had tried to get her to actually participate in the group, either she avoided it or she would only give small, broad details. She was determined to be left alone, and it hurt Tails to know that she was suffering that badly.

"Yes, Rouge. However, I really think you should consider staying longer. You have a lot to learn and it doesn't hurt to know you're not alone."

Rouge plastered a small smile on her face and reached out to place her hand on Tails shoulder. She watched as confusion spread on his face, and giggled, using her other hand to run her fingers through her tangled hair.

"Tails, you really shouldn't worry for me. You and Amy are far too concerned. I'm honestly fine. I'm just.." She stopped and bit her lip, swallowing as she tried to find the right words. "…not… happy… with how my life has been. But I'm fine, honestly. You have nothing to worry about."

With that said, Rouge turned around and headed out the door, leaving Tails behind as he worriedly watched Rouge walk away.

* * *

Rouge jumped into bed as she covered herself with her blanket, reaching over to shut off her lamp. It was eleven o'clock and she wanted nothing more but to sleep. She put her arm under her pillow and squeezed it as she placed her head down, immediately feeling relief as her eyes began to slowly shut.

Minutes passed as the bat slept quietly. But even sleep wouldn't let her escape the demons that cloud her mind every day. Slowly, the content smile on her face turned into a frown, and anyone could see that her nightmares were back to haunt her. Uncomfortable, the bat turned from left to right and kicked the sheets, almost as if she were fighting someone off of her.

 _ **Oh, Rouge…**_

 _ **There's nothing to be scared of…**_

 _ **There's no such things as monsters…**_

"N-no… Leave me a-alone…" Rouge murmured, eyes tightly shut as she struggled to stay asleep and diminish the nightmare.

 _ **Come here, Rouge…**_

 _ **See, there's no monster in the closet…**_

 _ **Come closer, don't be scared…**_

"NO!" Rouge woke up, eyes wide awake as she pulled her legs to her chest and rocked herself gently back and forth. Sweat poured down her body as she began to cry, stuffing her face between her knees.

"Why… Why again…"

Questioning herself through her sobs, she looked up and her eyes immediately fell on a small drawer that sat across the room. Her eyes remained locked on the drawer as she bit her lip. Shaking her head, she looked away and repeated to herself, "No, Rouge. No. You can't do this to yourself anymore…"

But it was no use.

Biting her lip again, she turned to look back towards the drawer. It couldn't hurt, right? It could help her sleep, help her escape… Sighing, she mentally slapped herself as she stood up and headed towards the drawer.

She could always stop another day…

Bending down in front of the drawer, she ran her fingers towards the handle before tightly gripping onto it and yanking it open, causing the drawer to shake aggressively for a second before reaching to a stop. Grabbing the contents inside, Rouge spread them out on top of the drawer, the clink of the contents hitting the wooden desk making her ears twitch in delight.

Drugs of all different kinds laid on her desk, her eyes quickly scanning them as she tried to choose her drug of choice for the night. Whether she should just roll a blunt or snort some cocaine, she didn't know. All she knew was she had to get high, anything to make her feel different compared to how she felt now.

After scanning her stash of drugs one more time, she sighed, shook her head, and placed the contents back inside her drawer. Standing up, she almost decided to just go back to bed and forget that she almost destroyed all of the hard work she had done in recovering for the past month. But no, the addiction was impossible to stop when she was alone. The constant voice in her head telling her to do it, the twitch in her hands, the shaking of her body; she had been addicted for too long to know that she possibly would _never_ be able to recover.

Walking out of her bedroom door, Rouge headed towards the kitchen, holding on to things to keep herself steady as she walked throughout the house in the dark. Once she stood in front of a large cabinet, she quickly opened it and came face to face with twenty bottles, all stacked nicely, waiting to be drank from. After examining each bottle, she chose a bottle of Smirnoff Vodka and shut the cabinet, sinking down to her knees as she opened the bottle and drank from it, instantly shutting her eyes as she felt the alcohol burn the back of her throat.

Before taking another sip from the bottle, she wearingly looked at her reflection through the glossy label and forced her grip on the bottle to become stronger as she began to shake, throwing her head back as she tried to contain her tears. The image that stared back at her wasn't her; physically, it was but mentally, it wasn't. What had she done to herself? Who had she become? She remembered the days where she had been strong and carefree but now… Now, she couldn't even sleep without vicious memories attacking her dreams every night.

Shaking, Rouge rose the bottle to her lips and silently drank from it, shutting her eyes tight as she allowed herself to chug the bottle down. Once she felt she had drank enough, she placed the bottle down beside her and placed her head in her hands, rubbing her eyes as she felt the effects finally take over.

 **A.N.:**

 _"And then something invisible snapped insider her, and that which had come together commenced to fall apart."_ \- John Green, _Looking for Alaska_

 **So, new story. And it's gonna be a chapter story! Wow, surprising!**

 **Anyways, I wrote this at 10:00 at night after doing a 3 hour hike earlier today so I'm exhausted as fuck and might have to edit this another day. But for now, it'll do and I'm really excited for you all to read and tell me what you think**

 **So, Rouge is a drug addict and/or alcoholic.** **Poor baby… I personally have never struggled with addiction with drugs so I'll try my hardest to write a realistic story but if any of you would like to help, don't be afraid to leave a comment in the review 3 The only "drugs" I "do" is, well, alcohol and pot and well, another character in the story, wink wink, does some pretty hardcore stuff that I may have to research in how to describe the symptoms and effects so bare with me if throughout the story, it's not the** _ **best**_ **description of a drugs effect.**

 **So, what's going to happen next? Concerning her therapy sessions, will she stay with the group or will she leave after the last two weeks?**

 **Please leave reviews or comments, they'd be greatly appreciated**

 **With Love,**

 **Celesta Asta xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2: Friendship

**Chapter 2**

"Rouge, wake up."

Rouge's eyes slowly fluttered open as she struggled to stand up. Clutching on to her cabinet's handle to support herself, Rouge lazily brought her hand to her face to cover her eyes, immediately shielding her irritated eyes from the blazing sun that shined through the spaces in her window blinds. When she felt she was balanced enough to walk, Rouge let go of the cabinet handle and proceeded towards the medicine drawer in her bathroom. Once she had reached her bathroom, she gently tugged the doors of the drawer open, grabbed a bottle of aspirin, took two pills, and placed the bottle back, leaving the doors of the drawer wide open as she walked back into her kitchen.

"Hey Amy."

A petite pink hedgehog looked up from her cell phone and annoyingly looked at the bat, disappointment lurking within her eyes. She watched as Rouge pulled out two bottles of water from her refrigerator and pushed one towards her.

Rouge unscrewed the cap to her bottle and popped the two pills in her mouth, quickly washing them down with water. After screwing the bottle cap back on, Rouge leaned in on the counter towards the hedgehog, who was able to directly look Rouge in the eye due to the height of the chair she was sitting in.

"What? No hi?"

Amy rolled her eyes at the bat and looked back down at her phone, ignoring the bat's question.

Sighing, Rouge turned around to open her pantry doors and pulled out a box of cereal, shaking it.

"Want some cereal, Ames? You hungry?"

Amy continued to ignore Rouge, rolling her eyes each time the bat addressed her.

Aggravated, Rouge snatched the phone from the hedgehog's small hands, automatically eliciting a gasp from Amy.

"Hey, give that back!"

"No! You will not give me the silent treatment today!"

"Yeah, well, what do you want me to do?! Nothing else will fucking go through to you!"

Rouge's mouth immediately shut when she heard Amy curse. Amy was known to never curse unless thoroughly provoked and when Amy was angry, she was _angry_. Rouge had only heard Amy curse once or twice in her life and even at those times, Amy had automatically gotten embarrassed and apologized. But today, that wasn't going to happen. Rouge could see that Amy was truly hurt and angry at her by her body language; her fists were clenched, she was breathing quickly, and her foot was repeatedly tapping against the chair.

"I don't mean to be mean, Rouge. But nothing I say to you works. Every time I stop by to check up on you, I find you on the floor, drunk. It's honestly devastating."

Rouge looked away from the pink hedgehog and towards the ground, muttering slowly.

"Amy… It's not easy… You have to stop treating me as if I can just recover so easily. I will relapse. And I will relapse _hard_. That's part of the process. But, hopefully, I'll be able to recover one day. It will take time but I know I can do it. You just gotta keep praying for me."

Rouge looked up at the hedgehog and was surprised when Amy had reached over the counter and hugged Rouge, refusing to let go. A small smile crept onto Rouge's face as she wrapped her hands around the hedgehog's small form. After a few seconds, they departed from their hugs and Rouge watched as tears slowly ran down her friends face.

"I'm sorry, Rouge.. I.. I just don't know how to react.. You're my best friend and I know I should be more understanding but I just get so worried.. I'm really sorry.."

"It's okay." Rouge said, ripping off a paper towel for her friend. "It's okay, I promise I'm not mad."

Amy smiled at Rouge as she took the paper towel and dabbed her eyes gently with it. Jumping off from her seat, Amy reached down to pick up her purse and pulled out a small compact mirror, quickly examining her face to check if her makeup had smeared or not.

Rouge smirked as she watched Amy care for how she looked and went over to the bathroom mirror to take a look at herself. She saddened at what she saw; her hair was a tangled mess, her makeup was smudged, and drops of alcohol had managed to stain her favorite night gown. Sighing, Rouge walked over to her friend and gave her another hug, quietly crying into Amy's shoulder.

"I need a hug really badly right now…"

Surprised and wordless, Amy nodded and wrapped her arms around Rouge, gently rocking her back and forth. She was still shocked at how Rouge's life had strangely turned upside down; Amy and Rouge were childhood best friends ever since they were two years old. Amy knew everything about Rouge; she was there for it all. Her first cell phone, her first kiss, her first car… And Rouge was there for all of Amy's experiences. Yet even though Rouge was known to be spontaneous and adventurous, Rouge was reserved as well. Which explained why even though Amy knew almost every one of her secrets, Amy still had no idea what caused Rouge to break down one day and succumb to a life of drugs. But Amy refused to watch Rouge spiral more; she would get Rouge help and have the girl who would show up at her house at four in the morning to go on a hike on Emerald Hill to watch the sunset. She would have her best friend back, no matter what it took.

Amy slowly rubbed Rouge's back as she continued to rock her back and forth, gently reassuring Rouge that she was going to be okay, that it was going to be alright. But even as Amy tried to soothe the bat, Rouge continued to cry, breaking the hedgehog's heart each time she heard her friend sob loudly.

Rouge finally released her friend, using her hand to wipe away the remaining tears that stained her face. Forcing herself to smile, she thanked Amy for the comfort and invited her into the living room. As they both walked into the room, Rouge walked over and sat down on her couch, patting the spot next to her. She watched as Amy walked over and sat, fixing her skirt as it tried to ride up her waist.

"So, Ames, how's Sonic?"

Rouge smiled as she watched Amy giggle and go into extreme detail about the couple's adventures and fun within the past week. Rouge couldn't help but be a bit jealous that her friend had managed to find someone that loved her so much when Rouge was always getting hurt in her relationships. But Rouge was glad that Amy had found love; she would never wish anything harmful to happen to her best friend. Amy knew everything about her; well, almost everything. There were a few secrets that no one would ever know about Rouge and she liked to keep it that way. It was the only way she felt safe and protected, even if it distanced her from others and made her feel more alone than she already was. But she had Amy as her friend, a kind caring person who did anything to make her smile. Rouge only wished that she could find the same type of love in Amy and Sonic's relationship and not always the opposite.

 **A.N.:**

 _"_ _It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being."_ -John Joseph Powell

 **Short chapter but I felt this was pretty necessary to the plot. Many times, people struggle to understand how hard addiction is to fight; my parents always make fun of alcoholics or drug users because "they got into that mess, it should be easy to get out of just like it is to get in". But most of the time, people turn to drugs due to something bad happening to them and once you're hooked, it's hard to get off cause it's a** ** _mental and physical battle._**

 **So I made Amy be a caring friend, even if she doesn't understand what's happening to Rouge because Rouge is the only person she knows who has this problem. And even though Amy is angry and worried about Rouge, she realizes that Rouge is still her best friend and she needs help; that's why she's so determined to help her.**

 **Rouge feels awful about everything that happened to her and feels bad about what she's doing to her best friend. But she doesn't want to open completely up to Amy because she feels it'd be better to have a few things kept to herself instead of sadden the hedgehog more.**

 **So yeah, I'm sorry it's short but this was necessary to the plot!** **Next chapter, though, will be much longer and your favorite hedgehog will be in it ;) Anyways, thanks for reading! Love you all!**

 **Please review**

 **With Love,**

 **Celesta Asta xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3: Unforeseen

_Don't wake me up, up, up, up up, upppp.. Don't wak-_

Rouge reached over and lazily pressed the snooze button on her phone as she snuggled up to her pillow and rested her eyes once more, hoping she could gain a few extra minutes of sleep. Unfortunately for her, however, her phone rang once again, causing the bat to huff in annoyance. She again reached over to answer her phone, only to be even more discouraged that she truly would not be able to sleep in today. Placing the phone down next to her, Rouge rubbed her eyes before running her hands through her hair, rereading the text message in her head.

 _"_ _Hello, Rouge. It's Tails. Just thought I'd remind you that group therapy is today at 11:00, not 4:00 as usual. Sorry if that changes anything, please let me know if you are unable to attend. Otherwise, see you later :)"_

Rouge groaned as she turned over to stuff her face in her pillow. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically. It took all her willpower to resist drugging herself last night due to her recurrent nightmares and due to that, she had only managed to get two hours of sleep. Only two hours of pure serenity.

Groaning in her pillow again, only for her voice to be slightly muffled, Rouge pushed herself out of bed and sauntered over to her bathroom, stripping herself as she turned the water on to her shower and waited for it to heat up. Once she determined it was at a comfortable enough temperature, the tired bat stepped in the shower, immediately relishing how nice the water felt against her fur. She started to lather her hair languidly, her thoughts concentrating on another matter other than cleaning herself.

 _Should I just tell him that I can't make it?_

Rouge frowned. No, she couldn't lie and make some excuse up for the young kitsune simply because he'd contact Amy to notify her that she didn't go today and then Amy would be on her ass for not going. It'd be much easier to go. Sighing, Rouge began to lather her body with her body wash, loving how smooth and soft the body wash made her fur feel.

 _Besides, I only have two more days left before they can't force me to go anymore. I can survive two more days, right?_

Nodding to herself and rinsing the soap and shampoo off of her, Rouge stopped the shower and cautiously walked out, immediately reaching for a towel to wrap around herself as she stood on top of her water absorbent rug. As she secured the towel around her body, Rouge wrapped another towel around her head to prevent her wet hair from dripping all over the ground. Afterwards, she returned to her bedroom to dress herself, already knowing which outfit she planned to wear.

Rouge stared at herself in the mirror, perfecting the finishing touches of her makeup. Carefully applying her last coat of mascara, Rouge screwed the tube shut, turning her head from side to side to examine her face at every angle. She had to admit to herself that she had outdone herself this time as the bat looked as if she was attending some extremely prestigious event. Although that wasn't true, she still felt it was necessary to have her makeup done to perfection today for she always felt better and more prepared to face the challenges of the day when she knew she looked good. Not only that, but covering up that you only managed to obtain two hours of sleep the previous night was extremely hard to cover with light makeup, so Rouge applied as much makeup as she possibly could in order to look more alive. And in her opinion, it worked, for she looked as radiant as a diamond under sunlight.

Taking one long last look in the mirror, Rouge forced herself to smile, practicing for the amount of people that would expect her to smile. And even though she smiled on the outside, her mind frowned as she turned away and walked down her stairs to the door, hurrying to her car.

 _Just get today over with, Rouge. Just get it over with._

Rouge sat in her car as she stared up at the moderately large building, wringing her hands as she mentally pushed herself to go in. Her eyes scanned each letter that was ingrained in the door, wishing that she had stayed home and lied instead of actually coming in today. After rereading **Mr. Fox Therapy: Here to help and provide for those who seek help!** several times in her head, the bat finally managed to step out of her car and walk into the building, locking her car as she nervously walked over to her seat in the group circle.

 _You've done this for a month now, why are you still intimidated by these people?_

Why _was_ she intimidated by these people? Other than her, everyone had contributed their part in why they were in the group therapy program and what they were seeking out of it. She knew exactly the reasons behind their addictions and came to the conclusion that no one in the room was a bad person, they had just gone on the wrong path, such as her. But why was she still nervous about interacting with these people? What made her fear connecting with others so damn much?

"Hey, Rouge.."

Rouge turned to face Tikal, who was scanning Rouge with her cobalt eyes. Rouge smiled at the orange-furred echidna, who returned her smile.

"Hey, Tikal.. How are you?"

Rouge almost giggled when she saw Tikal's face beam with joy. She didn't normally continue the conversation so she assumed that Tikal was pleased that Rouge had bothered to help lengthen whatever conversation they may have today. Nonetheless, Rouge was determined to make today a good day, even if she knew that possibly wouldn't happen.

As Tikal opened her mouth to respond to Rouge, she was interrupted by Tails, who was standing next to a tall, black hedgehog. Returning her attention towards Tails, Tikal and Rouge both turned around to face their therapist.

"Hello everyone! Sorry for the change of time, I have something I have to attend to later but I'm glad at the turnout we had today regardless! Thank you all for coming! Now, we have a new member of the group." Tails said, as he gestured his hand towards the hedgehog next to him. "His name is Shadow and he'll be joining us on our journey to recovery."

Rouge raised an eyebrow towards the newcomer as she examined him closely. He was a stoic looking hedgehog with fur as black as the night sky covering his body. However, he had ruby red stripes on his quills and as Rouge looked at his face, she noticed that his eyes matched his quills in color. Rouge felt her face go hot as she realized that Shadow had noticed her staring and was scanning her now. Trying to hide her feelings of embarrassment, Rouge turned to face Tikal, who was busy braiding her hair.

"How was your week, Tikal?"

Tikal, surprised again, stopped braiding her hair and looked up at Rouge curiously, trying to determine why the bat was so eager to talk to her today of all days. Shrugging it off, and deciding it was just to be nice, Tikal smiled at Rouge before responding.

"It was good. Thanks for asking. How was yours?"

"It was fine." Rouge said, smiling back at the young echidna. Rouge watched as Tikal nodded at her and, running out of conversation, went back to braiding her hair, leaving Rouge to frantically find something to do. An overwhelming feeling of thirst hit the bat so, in order to supply her needs, she stood and walked over to the water dispenser, filling a cup of water for herself. Raising the cup to her lips, she was stopped when she felt a presence behind her, causing her to turn around to stare at the unexpected person. Realizing it was only Tails, Rouge calmed and folded her arm across her chest as she nodded at Tails, finally taking a sip of water from her cup.

"Rouge, I want you to talk to Shadow today."

Rouge raised an eyebrow at the fox as she struggled to maintain her smile. _This guy just noticed me checking him out and you want me to voluntarily talk to him? Are you out of your mind? Guy probably thinks I'm a creep!_ Shakily, Rouge placed her empty cup down and crossed both arms across her chest, giving Tails a quizzical look.

"And why should I do that?"

"Because, seeing how I'm both your therapist, I would know who would benefit from the other's presence. And I can tell you right now that you two would make excellent friends if you got to know each other."

Rouge slowly nodded as she let his words process in her brain. Her and Shadow would be good friends? Why? Was he _just_ as fucked up as she was or was Tails bullshitting her? Curiosity filled within her as she redirected her gaze towards Shadow, who had sat down in one of the chairs with his head between his hands. Her eyes curiously scanned the hedgehog as she tried to determine Tails reasoning. However, Rouge figured that if she was going to let her curiosity take over, she might as well comply with Tails request and actually talk to Shadow. Moving her eyes from Shadow to Tails, Rouge nodded once again, making the fox smile.

"Wait…" Rouge said, remembering something. "This doesn't affect our deal right?"

Tails sighed, muttering, "No, Rouge… it doesn't. I'm hoping it changes your mind though."

Rouge smiled and waved at Tails before she approached the sullen hedgehog, gently stirring him by tapping his shoulder. She watched as the hedgehog slowly removed his head from his arms and glanced up at her.

"Hi, Shadow. I'm Rouge."

The hedgehog nodded towards her, his eyes never leaving her face.

"Can I sit next to you?"

The hedgehog again nodded and leaned back in his chair, his arms tucked away behind his head as he shut his eyes.

Rouge nervously smiled at him as she sat down in the nearest chair and scooted closer to the newcomer. Rouge bit her nails as she sat there and waited for the hedgehog to start some form of conversation but when two awkward minutes passed by, Rouge realized that she would have to be the one to initiate conversation between them.

"How was your week?"

"Fine."

"Oh, that's good…" Rouge muttered, picking at her nails as she looked at the ground. "Do anything fun?"

"No."

"I see..."

The hedgehog slowly opened one eye as he again looked the bat up and down before he chuckled and closed his eye.

Rouge felt herself heat up as she heard him laugh, paranoid that he was laughing at her for an embarrassing reason.

"Wha-what are you laughing at?"

"You."

A red blush appeared on Rouge's cheeks as she opened her mouth to protest against the Shadow. However, before she could say a word, the hedgehog gave his reasoning.

"You're scared and nervous to be here. I'm just trying to determine why."

The red blush on Rouge's face slowly began to cease when she heard Shadow speak. Confused, the bat cocked her head at the hedgehog as her eyes met with his now opened eyes, crimson mixing with cobalt.

"You keep biting your nails, you frantically look around, you look at the ground a lot, and you heat up easily. I'm surprised you were even able to speak to me with how nervous you are."

Rouge stared down at her bitten down nails as her blush returned. Rouge wanted to desperately hide due to how embarrassed she was but knew she had to challenge him on his statement.

"Oh yeah?" Rouge said shakily, even though she was trying to be as confident as possible, "Well, if I'm scared and nervous, then you must be shy and anti-social."

"Accurate analysis. Nice job."

Rouge couldn't help but to giggle at the hedgehog. It had been a while since someone was actually able to make her slightly happy, and here was this hedgehog who managed to make her laugh. She watched as the hedgehog watched her with a quizzical look, eyes demanding an answer to why she was so amused by him.

"Your choice of words." Rouge said. "It's interesting."

"I see…" Shadow said, his eyebrows furrowing together as he tried to see the humor in his words. Sighing, the hedgehog gave up in trying to understand the bat and just looked at her, folding his arms across his chest. "So, why _are_ you talking to me?"

"Why not?"

Shadow chuckled as he shook his head, his white teeth gleaming at the white bat.

"Most people tend to get intimidated by me."

"Oh really?" Rouge questioned, smirking at the hedgehog. "I wonder why. You don't seem that scary."

"I'm in group therapy."

"So? So am I. You think people are afraid of you because you're seeking help?"

"No," Shadow replied. "But I've done some pretty fucked up things to end up on this path."

"Oh, like what?"

"Why are you so damn curious?"

Rouge was shocked when the hedgehog had spat at her, causing her rare confidence to be diminished within seconds. As her previous emotions of nervousness and anxiousness came back, she looked away from the hedgehog and unto the ground.

"I..I just was talking to Tails earlier and he said that I should talk to you because we may have a lot in common. I'm just trying to figure out how."

Rouge watched as anger and pain flickered within the hedgehog's eyes, taken aback by the sudden change in the hedgehog's demeanor. _What did I do?_

"Oh, let me guess. You're here to attempt to _fix me_? The hedgehog asked, scowling. "Well, guess what. I'm pretty fucking positive that whatever happened to you to cause you to become some drug addicted bitch is far different than what happened to me. I can _almost guarantee_ it. So don't bother in fixing me because I sure damn well won't be able to be fixed by you."

Rouge began to feel emotions of anger and sadness travel within her body as the hedgehog yelled at her, making her clench her fists. Who did this guy think he _was_? He damn well had no idea what she went through so how could he even begin to make such an accusation?

"Well, _reality check_ for you, _asshole._ You don't know me. And I could give zero fucks about "fixing" an ass like you." Rouge shouted at him, standing up and stomping over to Tails, who was staring at both the hedgehog and the bat, along with everyone in the room.

"I'm going home." Rouge simply told Tails, proceeding past him and towards her car. Tails eyes widened as he chased after her, making mental notes about both the hedgehog and the bat.

"Wait, wait!" Tails shouted towards Rouge, surprised when she actually stopped and turned around to face him, still fuming. "I'm sorry about that… He's a rather… bitchy… But he means no harm! He just isn't good with people."

"Damn well he isn't good with people." Rouge responded.

"Please come back inside, Rouge. Don't let him make you leave."

"Only if this is the last day."

"Huh? Last day?" Tails said, mildly confused.

"I don't have to come to any more therapy sessions after today."

"But that's not pa-" Tails started before he sighed and nodded his head. "Okay, last session."

"Last session?"

Both Rouge and Tails looked at each other before turning to address the owner of the voice.

"What do you mean, 'last session'?" Shadow asked Tails, ease-dropping on their conversation.

Before Tails could respond, Rouge cut him off, glaring at Shadow menacingly.

"Mind your business, Shadow."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted like that earlier. I..get angry easily. I deeply apologize."

Tails watched as Rouge stared at the hedgehog, not knowing what to say. Taking this as an opportunity to settle things, Tails wrapped his arms around both of them, guiding them inside as he talked.

"See? You guys just got off on a rough start but I guarantee, you guys have many things in common with each other. Trust me."

Both Shadow and Rouge nodded together, looking at each other before they redirected their gaze towards the floor. Removing themselves from Tails grip, which left Tails stunned, they headed back towards their seats and sat down, facing the other.

"You're still an ass."

Shadow chuckled, nodding his head.

"Oh trust me, I agree. However, I still am sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that, I've had a rough week."

"You told me your week was fine." Rouge smirked, crossing her arms. She watched as the hedgehog laughed and returned her smirk.

"Well, I lied."

"Well, that's rude."

"Well, don't leave."

"Well- wait, what?"

Shadow sighed as he ran his hand through his quills, leaning back in the chair again. "Stay awhile longer with this group therapy bullshit." Shadow said, looking into her eyes. "Tails knows me pretty well, so if he says I can find a friend in you, he must be right."

Rouge was stunned. She sat there, frozen in her chair, as she reanalyzed his words in her head. _I barely know this guy and he's practically begging me to stay. Why should I? It's not like we're friends or anything._ Rouge glanced up at the hedgehog, looking straight into his eyes. And that's when she saw it. His eyes gleamed with a hidden pain, hidden so well that you wouldn't be able to notice if you weren't searching for it. But Rouge noticed it. It was what she saw when she looked at herself in the mirror; a body with a hurt soul. Pain hidden so deep within her that she wasn't able to find any hints of happiness, any hints of hope. And here, sitting in front of her, was a person who had the same distraught, painful look in their eyes. Someone who needed her help as much as she needed his.

"I'll stay."

 **A.N.:**

 _"Life just doesn't care about our aspirations, or sadness. It's often random, and it's often stupid and it's often completely unexpected, and the closures and the epiphanies and revelations we end up receiving from life, begrudgingly, rarely turn out to be the ones we thought."_ – Khaled Hosseini

 **So, as promised, a decently long chapter! And here we meet Shadow!**

 **I don't know how i feel about this. Well, I don't know how I feel about any story I write honestly. But I just don't know if I like their interaction that much… It's how I planned it out in my head, yet when I wrote it down, it seemed weird. Idk, please leave comments about what you think of it please!**

 **Next chapter might not be out for a week or so, I'm incredibly busy this week but I promise I'll try to update as soon as possible!**

 **Please review!**

 **With Love,**

 **Celesta Asta xoxo**

 **P.S. I'm currently writing a oneshot at the moment because an idea came to me so maybe that one will be released soon but the next chapter to recovery won't be for a week. So at least I'm giving you something else to read, right? :P**


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